Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2022, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (11): 1400-1410.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2021.0305

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Niche and interspecific association of main woody plants in Myrica nana shrubland in central Yunnan, China

ZHANG Ling-Nian1, ZHU Gui-Qing1, YANG Kuan1, LIU Xing-Yue1, GONG He-De1,*(), ZHENG Li2,*()   

  1. 1School of Geography and Ecotourism, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China
    2Green Development Research Institute, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China
  • Received:2021-08-25 Accepted:2022-01-25 Online:2022-11-20 Published:2022-06-09
  • Contact: *(GONG He-De, gonghede3@163.com; ZHENG Li, 49037987@qq.com)
  • Supported by:
    The Special Foundation for National Science and Technology Basic Research Programe of China(2015FY11030001-4);The NSFC-Yunnan Joint Fund(U2002209)

Abstract:

Aims Niche studies play an important role in understanding the interspecific associations of communities. The study of interspecific relationship is important for understanding community structure, function and classification. Our objective was to quantitatively analyze the niche and interspecific association of main woody plants in Myrica nana shrubland in central Yunnan.
Methods Methods including niche measurement, variance ratio, chi-square test, Pearson correlation test, and Spearman rank correlation test, were used.
Important findings Results showed that: (1) Levins and Shannon’s niche width measurement results showed that M. nana had the widest niche width in the community, while Rubus aurantiacus var. obtusifolius had the narrowest one. There was no consistent relationship between niche width and important value, and some species had larger niche width and smaller important value, indicating that these species had greater development potential. (2) The value of the niche overlap index was generally small, which showed that the demand similarity for environmental resources among the main species was small, and the competition between main species was not strong. (3) Species with larger niche width had a higher probability of niche overlap with other species, but this was not absolute, some species with small niche width value also had a higher degree of niche overlap. (4) The overall connectivity of the main species showed a significant positive correlation, indicating that the community species could coexist harmoniously and the community structure tended to be stable. (5) Chi-square test, Pearson correlation test and Spearman rank correlation test revealed no significant relationship between most of the species pairs, indicating that the connection between species pairs in the community was weak, and each species showed an independent distribution pattern. (6) Pearson correlation coefficient and Spearman rank correlation coefficient among main species both had a very significant positive correlation with the niche overlap index, indicating that when the species pairs showed extremely significant positive associations, the niche overlap value was large, and when the species pairs showed extremely significant negative associations, the niche overlap value was small.

Key words: niche, interspecific association, Myrica nana, shrubland, central Yunnan